1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to an automatic sheet feeding device for a printer, and more particularly to a sheet feeding device that inserts a single sheet at a time into an infeeder of a printer without communicating with the printer.
2. Description of Related Art
There are numerous printers available for printing standard sized pages, e.g., letter (8½″×11″), A4 (210 mm×297 mm) and legal (8½″×14″). However, when a user desires to print sheets having dimensions different than the standard sized sheets, i.e., large sheets or sheets having an adhesive strip or other raised portions thereon, or a combination thereof, the user encounters several problems. Initially, the user must obtain a printer capable of printing the non-standard sized sheets. Then, the user has the option of feeding a single sheet at a time into the infeeder of the printer by hand or obtain a sheet feeding device that is capable of feeding the non-standard sized sheets into the printer usually through a rear entry bypass infeed port. The user must also be concerned with the capability of feeding a single sheet at a time into the printer when the thickness of the sheet is non-uniform, i.e., one edge of the sheet is thicker than another edge which will generally skew when printed.
Feeding the sheets by hand is a time consuming process and is labor intensive, i.e., someone must stand there and monitor the printer, feeding a sheet into the printer when a sheet has been printed.
It can be seen that there is a need for an intelligent sheet feeding device that is able to feed sheets into the infeeder of a printer without communicating with the printer, i.e., an intelligent sheet feeder that is able to know when the printer is ready to receive a subsequent sheet. It can be seen that there is a need for a sheet feeding device that does not require substantial programming in order to operate successfully in conjunction with a printer without communicating directly with the printer. It can be seen that there is a need for a user friendly sheet feeding device for feeding sheets into a printer without constant monitoring by a user. It can be seen that there is a need for a sheet feeding device that is capable of feeding sheets having a non-uniform thickness without jamming the printer or the sheet feeding device.